Prosecutor implies Hans Reiser is narcissistic

Prosecutor says social ineptitude a product of narcissism, not autism

Published 4:00 am, Friday, February 22, 2008

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Prosecutor implies Hans Reiser is narcissistic

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The prosecutor in Hans Reiser's murder trial suggested Thursday that the defendant's well-chronicled social ineptitude was caused not by mild autism, as defense lawyers have theorized, but because he has a narcissistic personality disorder characterized by arrogance.

Beverly Parr, a psychiatrist who has known the 44-year-old Reiser since he was a toddler, testified for the defense Wednesday that he showed all the signs of having Asperger's syndrome, which is marked by impaired social skills and a fixation on things.

The defense has maintained that while Hans Reiser may come across as strange, that doesn't mean he killed his estranged wife, Nina. She was 31 when she disappeared in September 2006 after dropping off the couple's two children at his Oakland hills home. Her body hasn't been found.

During her second day of cross-examination Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court, Parr again acknowledged that she had never diagnosed Hans Reiser. She was also reluctant to agree with prosecutor Paul Hora's theory that Reiser is narcissistic.

Hora read from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, generally considered by psychiatrists as the bible of their profession.

"How about a father who insists that his son is gifted, is brilliant, is a genius, is inadequate in school because he's smart and is bored?" Hora asked, referring to sentiments that Hans Reiser expressed regarding his son, now 8. "He's in first grade but should be in third or fourth? A father who sees his son like that, is that a trait of narcissism?" Hora asked.

"I'm not a specialist, but it could be," Parr said.

Hora continued to read from the manual, saying, "They are likely to insist on having only the 'top' person (doctor, lawyer, hairdresser, instructor) or being affiliated with the 'best' institutions, but may devalue the credentials of those who disappoint them." Had Parr known Hans to act this way? Hora asked.

She said she had seen only one instance in which Reiser fit that description, but did not elaborate.

Hans Reiser's mother, Beverly Palmer, who testified in December as a prosecution witness, returned to the stand later Thursday to bolster the defense theory that Nina Reiser could still be alive and in hiding.

Palmer testified that in 2004, Nina Reiser threatened to move with the couple's son and daughter to Sweden unless a "large amount of money" was put into her account. But under cross-examination, Palmer acknowledged that her son had probably encouraged her to detail the alleged threat in a declaration that was included as part of his divorce proceedings. Nina Reiser filed for divorce in 2004.

Hora asked why Palmer had never reported the alleged threat to police after Nina Reiser disappeared and had instead described her as a "lovely person."

"Because even lovely people do desperate things," she replied. She said she does not know where Nina Reiser is now.

Palmer also addressed a point that came up during the prosecution's case, when a neighbor of Hans Reiser's testified that he saw Reiser "watering in his driveway" two days after his wife was last seen. The neighbor said the action "was odd, even for Hans."

Palmer, who lived with her son, testified that she had called him an "inconsiderate slob" and ordered him to clean her cars and her house - including the driveway - before she left for the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert the weekend his wife disappeared.

Palmer also served as narrator as the defense played a video of the Reisers' May 1999 wedding at a rock labyrinth in Tilden Park in the Berkeley hills.

The video showed Hans Reiser embracing his smiling wife as his then-best friend, Sean Sturgeon, walked around in drag while serving as his "maid of honor." Sturgeon later had an affair with Nina Reiser.